W.H.: Woodward 'willfully wrong'

2/23/13 1:14 PM EST

The White House is fighting back against an assertion by the Washington Post's Bob Woodward that President Obama is "moving the goal posts" by asking that tax revenue be included in a deal averting the sequester cuts.

Woodward argued in an op-ed that the initial agreement creating the sequester did not include revenues and so trying to include them now is a changeup.

But press secretary Jay Carney says the goal was always to replace them with something of a grand bargain that included revenue and cuts, something the congressional supercommittee had been charged with reaching in fall 2011.

Carney also held up as evidence a letter signed by 40 House Republicans at the time signifying they were open to including tax revenue in a deal.

Jesse Lee, the White House director of progressive media and online response, also took issue with Woodward's premise, and pointed to a speech the president delivered upon signing the Budget Control Act that included the sequester.

"Obama, signing BCA: 'This is, however, just the first step...you can’t close the deficit with just spending cuts,'" Lee tweeted. "'...It also means reforming our tax code so that the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations pay their fair share.'"

"This compromise requires that both parties work together on a larger plan to cut the deficit, which is important for the long-term health of our economy," Obama said. "And since you can’t close the deficit with just spending cuts, we’ll need a balanced approach where everything is on the table. Yes, that means making some adjustments to protect health care programs like Medicare so they’re there for future generations. It also means reforming our tax code so that the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations pay their fair share. And it means getting rid of taxpayer subsidies to oil and gas companies, and tax loopholes that help billionaires pay a lower tax rate than teachers and nurses."